Effects of tea polyphenols on the invasion and matrix metalloproteinases activities of human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells

The effects of tea polyphenols on the invasion of highly metastatic human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells through a monolayer of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and the accompanying basal membrane were investigated. Among the tea polyphenols tested, epicatechin gallate (ECg), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg), and theaflavin strongly suppressed the invasion of HT1080 cells into the monolayer of HUVECs/gelatin membrane, whereas epicatechin, epigallocatechin, tea flavonols, tea flavones, and gallate derivatives had no effect. Both theaflavin-digallate and theasinensin D showed a weak invasion inhibitory effect. ECg significantly inhibited the invasion without cytotoxicity against cancer cells and HUVECs. Ester-type catechins (ECg and EGCg) and theaflavin strongly suppressed the gelatin degradation mediated by matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 and MMP-9, which were secreted into the conditioned medium of HT1080 cells. In conclusion, among the tea polyphenols tested, ECg was considered to be the agent with the most potential antimetastasis activity because it inhibited invasion in the absence of cytotoxicity.